Surrender

Disclaimer: Here is yet another piece of fiction based on the
characters of Xena; Warrior Princess. Being the rightful property of
Universal Studios, it is not my intention to infringe on related
copyright laws or to make any profit.

Surrender is the fifth and
concluding story in the series I have affectionately dubbed "The Pay for Play Chronicles". It's pretty
essential you've read all that proceeded it to make any sense.

Warning: Just in case you've forgotten, if you had
difficulty dealing with the content of the previously mentioned
stories, reading this will put you no more at ease. It falls strictly
under the definition of adult fan fiction - Plenty of sex, plenty of
talk, all involving women, all of whom are of age and consenting -
most of the time.

Moderate S/m and bondage alert. Some four letters words also
strewn through out.

It would be just after dark on the eve of the next new moon before
Gabrielle saw Xena again. The ex-warlord had disappeared ten days
prior without a trace into the many alleys and faces of Corinth as it
struggled to recover from a month worth of flooding.

There were strangers everywhere, families forced to sleep in the
streets, orphaned children wandering aimlessly who needed attending
to. No one who wasn't injured or starving was given a second glance
by the weary residents. There just wasn't the time or energy to
search for a woman who was intentionally avoiding detection, and
Gabrielle was forced to rely solely on her own resources to find her.
However as more days became nights, and the sun rose tirelessly time
and again, the usually optimistic bard's belief that the two friends
would simply be able to pick up and move on from where her deception
had led them began to seriously wane.

On this particular night, Gabrielle had retreated to the sanctuary
of her room on the first floor of the whore house, choosing to turn
in earlier than usual in the hope of a full nights rest. Sleep had
remained elusive to her since the night she had witnessed what Xena
paid Arnise to do for her. It hadn't been what she'd actually seen
that disturbed Gabrielle, though some of it surprised her. But the
look of absolute betrayal etched across Xena's face.

A knock at Gabrielle's door and subsequent appearance of another
young prostitute, she only knew by sight, gave her a glimpse of hope.
Xena had returned.

Unfortunately her relief was short lived when she learned the
condition the warrior was in. The girl told her that Xena appeared to
be heavily intoxicated, shouting abuse at the proprietor. She had
been sent to find Gabrielle in the hope that the bard's presence may
be able to defuse the situation. Bracing herself against what she
feared she would find, Gabrielle followed the girl quickly back
downstairs.

She found Xena slouching over the reception counter, still dressed
in the Athenian General's uniform she'd been wearing the night she
had fled the brothel. She appeared clean, rested enough, apparently
no worse for her time in exile.

As Gabrielle drew closer, still protected by the darkness of the
room she could hear the House owner arguing quite vehemently with the
warrior.On the counter before her rested their shared money
pouch.

"I told you before." The rotund little woman insisted.
"Arnise is not available tonight. Nor any night when you come here
in such a state."

Xena snarled and shifted her weight adopting the familiar gesture
that indicated she was readying to draw her sword. If at first sight,
Xena appeared to be amenable to reason, Gabrielle knew then the
situation had reached a point where she needed to intervene. But as
Xena's hand settled on the hilt strung at her shoulder, a door behind
the reception counter opened, admitting the blonde whore Xena had
been demanding to see.

Cautiously Arnise moved around the counter, keeping a watchful eye
on the warrior. Like Gabrielle, she had made her own inquiries as to
the dark woman's whereabouts. And like Gabrielle she had turned up
nothing. But she knew Xena would come. Sooner or later, she would
coming looking to settle a score with her.

"It's all right, Bertha." She assured her employer calmly.
"I am available if the customer..."

In a burst of rage Xena reached out, grabbing Arnise roughly by
the throat before she had a chance to finish her invitation. Then
holding her firm, she used what little dexterity her inebriated state
permitted she separated ten dinar from the contents of her money
pouch.

"You don't have to do this." Gabrielle argued stepping
clear of the shadows.

For a moment, the older woman actually seemed to be physically
jolted back by her words, registering that it was Gabrielle's voice
she was hearing and struggling to comprehend. But it didn't last.
Before Gabrielle could prevent the strike, Xena seized her by her
free arm.

The bard watched, horrified, as Xena refastened her hold on
Arnise, pushing her back in her embrace and kissing her viscously on
the mouth. It was as if she was feasting on the young prostitute,
mauling her face and lips until she had drawn blood. Then, suddenly
repulsed, she broke off, pushing the girl hard against the closed
door.

"I pay for this." Xena repeated, licking a droplet of blood
that had been left to settle on her own lips. She grabbed Arnise
again, this time around the throat, spinning her around in
Gabrielle's direction . The thin layer of clothing she wore was
ripped open bearing bare flesh and most importantly, a tiny X that
adorned her left breast.

Xena bit down hard on the exposed neckline.

"I pay for this!"

Gabrielle had to force herself not to look away.

Arnise didn't struggle, but she didn't try to help either. She
simply let the warrior turn and pull at her body in whatever way she
seem to want. It wasn't until Xena spun her back around once more,
forcing her face down across the table top that she knew a decision
had to be made. One that would without a doubt, end their
association. And if handled wrongly - possibly her life.

Xena had hooked the sheer robe up around the girl's waist exposing
her rear, and was still trying to negotiate the buttons on her own
trousers when Arnise started to struggle. A strike to the back of her
head sent the room churning about her and the bard to her feet.

The expression on the bard's face pleaded for it to stop. But Xena
turned away, unhooking her money pouch, and refocusing her attentions
back on Arnise. A sudden thud as it was deposited unceremoniously
close to where the younger woman's head rested made her startle.

"There is over a thousand dinars in that bag, whore." Xena
told her distastefully. "Earn it."

Arnise's turmoil doubled. The amount of money offered for simply
submitting to the warrior's whim could easily free her from her debt
bond to the House. It might even give her enough left over to acquire
some land. She tried to tell herself that Xena wasn't totally
responsible for her actions here tonight. Still, some part of her
couldn't get past the sight of the blonde still sitting on her work
bed. Gabrielle's expression had not faulted. Even in her position,
Arnise could see her counterpart's gaze travel the length of her
upturned body, over her semi nakedness. And though she made no
attempt to speak or look away, her face betrayed the mock courage her
staying insinuated.

Xena herself remained bent over next to the table, apparently
having little success in opening her trousers in her drunken state.
The delay only serving to make the situation even more deplorable.

Arnise wanted to yell at Xena to get on with it, or let her go.
But the torment continued unaddressed.

Helplessly she wandered if Xena had any idea what kind of struggle
she was causing in the young prostitute's mind? But then again, she
probably did and it was mostly likely contributing to the detestable
treatment. In the past Arnise would have served the warrior for a
fraction of the cost. And been grateful for it.

What was on offer was a fortune.

Before long the warrior's mild frustration in trying to open her
pants had turned to anger, giving voice to a string of obscenities.
She had used similar language with Arnise in the past. The kind that
was designed to showcase exactly who was in charge. But until now it
had never been with the intention of degrading her personally.

Then from somewhere far off in her mind she heard Xena call her a
poor excuse for a lay. Not worth half of what she paid for her. That
Arnise should be grateful anyone wanted her at all. Let alone the
once Destroyer of Nations. Did she like getting her ass fucked by
someone who could just as well cut her heart out? Did she like it in
front of an audience looking so innocent? She wasn't innocent though
was she? She loved being treated like a whore because that was all
she was good for - being somebody's whore.

The last insult delivered the girl's only real choice....

Before Xena could deflect the blow, the set of manacles kept as a
business prop on the table connected with the side of her head. The
shock and the sheer weight of the iron, forced the already unsteady
warrior backwards providing a margin of escape for her captive.
Arnise took it, frantically ducking out of the larger woman's grasp
and backing away as far as the confines of the room allowed.

"Don't you ever speak to me that way!" She spat.

"You've never complained I wasn't good enough before. We both
know the only real complaint you've ever had was...."

From her vantage point, Gabrielle witnessed the mock restraints
find their mark with excruciating accuracy. She scrambled to her feet
for the second time, eager to ensure the warrior's injury was not
life threatening. A raised hand from Xena not to approach made her
settle back.

Xena did her best to brace herself as the room distorted before
her. Bile rose in her mouth and she fought to maintain her footing.
Tentatively she touched her hand to the gash across her temple,
trying to assess the amount of blood running from it. Arnise ignored
the blood and the shade of gray the warrior's features had paled to.

Too over wrought to control her outburst, and too frightened to
care, her verbal bombardment continued.

"I get top dinar for being yours for a candle mark or two.
Better money than I can usually make in a quarter moon with my other
regulars. "

She chuckled sadly, pausing a moment to release a stream of tears
down already flushed features.

"Do you know what the other whores call me around here?"
She asked shooting the bard a desperate glance. "They call me,
Xena's Girl."

Another hollow laugh followed but her eyes gave away the level of
desolation somehow absent in her voice. She crossed the room,
uncaring what the larger, more powerful woman could do to her. She
had pulled her robe back around her out of modesty when she escaped
the warrior’s hold but now she didn't care and the garment hung
gaping.

Only a footfall away from the bard, the final shreds of loyalty
Arnise felt towards Xena were falling away.

"But do you know what your mighty warrior calls me?" She
whispered.

Gabrielle opened her mouth to reply unable to find the words.

"She calls me, Gab-ri-elle."

The whore's disclosure landed like a stone cast into a shallow
pool.

How foolish did the warrior believe her friend truly was? How
untainted did Gabrielle believe the warrior could be? Certainly the
bard had done nothing to actually harm her, but the agonizing
silences between the two, the unsaid truths, had brought all three to
this impasse.

"She paid me 100 dinars to cut me here. Not before doing me
back and front with her thing."

She continued retaining her focus on Gabrielle.

"I rearranged all the furniture in the room while she did
me...She was drunk then too, but not like now - just horny. And you
know, that's good. Horny always means Xena's spends a lot more money.
She knows if she does it often enough and she's drunk enough - she
can forget I'm not you."

A fresh flow of tears spilled out unguarded.

"And you know what I did with the money?"

Gabrielle shook her head fighting the urge to cry herself.

"I sent it back to the orphanage where I grew up. The same
place that used to do me for free."

Arnise stopped, realizing her fury had spilled into territory
she'd not intended to impart. Her mouth suddenly felt very dry, her
eyes prickling from the proportion of tears shed. Off to her right
she could see Xena still holding her hand firmly against the cut at
her temple. Blood continued to trickle from it whenever pressure was
released, and she wondered indifferently if it might need a stitch or
two.

The room's time candle continued to burn unattended...it's
occupants too entangled in their own thoughts to care about the pace
at which it burned. Yet its very existence had set in motion the
basis of their bizarre triangle, had defined it and kept it in check.
Tonight's events pushed far beyond those limits, and the room in
which it burned. Their lives would be irrevocably entwined with one
another now in a way that could not be unraveled. They would leave
the room eventually, all three understood that. They would part
company and go on with their ways, but they would always carry
something of this night with them.

***<>***

"Sit down, warrior." Arnise was the first to break the
silence.

"If you're going to bleed all over my work room floor, the lest
you could do is try and contain the mess."

The prostitute's tone sounded a lot more irritated than it was.
Mentally she scolded herself for the lapse in decorum, while also
acknowledging Xena's behavior earlier had left her few options in how
to respond.

The warrior eased herself down into chair, waiting reticently as
Arnise fetched a bowl of water and clean clothe. Arnise worked
quietly to clean the cut. Some moments later the wound was deemed
less serious then initially thought and Arnise finished her
ministrations.

"You two need to talk," She concluded setting the medicinal
items aside. Without waiting for a response from either women, she
retrieved a light wrap and made her way back towards the doorway.

"Don't go." Gabrielle entreated softly.

Arnise glanced back, feeling a little of the bard's desperateness.
But she was also no longer able to justify her presence when it was
clear the two friends needed to talk. Wearily she ran a hand through
her disheveled hair.

"You need to start being honest with one another. You don't
need me here for that."

"You've been paid for." The warrior supplied, finding more
of her usual composure.

"If Gabrielle wants you here - you stay."

With the parameters of their relationship redefined, Arnise nodded
her assent. Inwardly she understood that she had breached the most
sacred of customer/purchase agreement. She had betrayed a trust so
warily bestowed - of course Xena would make her pay for that.

"You came back," Gabrielle added hastily. "You came back
so I'm hoping its because you love me and are willing now to accept
that I love you. I...what was done in this room the last time was
because of how much I want to be with you - for no other reason other
than to show you I can't stand being kept from knowing all of
you."

Somewhere earlier on that day, Xena had started drinking much in
the fashion she had every other day since she and Gabrielle had been
separated. She been left with the choices of continuing to drink
herself into a stupor or making her way back to the whore house to
gather her belongings and making one final call on Arnise. The more
the warrior drank the more she believed a score needed to be settled
between them - a betrayal to be paid for. But she also had to admit
she needed to get laid. The longer she had stayed away, the more she
convinced herself that her sexual proclivities had ended any hope of
ever being with the woman she loved. As much as it grieved her, their
life together was over.

The last thing she expected was to find Gabrielle waiting for her
return, and certainly not with intentions of them resuming their
relationship as it had been.

"What are you proposing?" She asked.

Gabrielle bayed a brief glance at the whore and the time candle.

"You said your time with Arnise is paid for. For another mark
of so?"

An elegantly shaped brow arched quizzically as Gabrielle took
another breath.

"I want to share in the purchase. I want to see what you
like....without having to peek through curtains."

Cynically the warrior shook her head refusing to accept what she
was hearing.

"I know some of what you like already. I mean from - before.
But I'm assuming there's more."

An uncertain nod agreed.

"I thought that, well I would like you to show me. So I can -
please you."

Xena snorted in disbelief, enough was enough.

"You don't know what your saying."

"Sure I do," Gabrielle told her easily sounding a lot more
confident than she actually felt. But weather she understood all the
implications of what she was saying or not, the one thing she was
absolutely certain of was she wasn't prepared to let Xena walk out of
her life. Not after all they shared - or what they felt.

There it was, all so very simple. Gabrielle had thrown down the
challenge and the warrior had to wonder if it had been the intention
all along, to share the services of the prostitute with her. Her way
of bringing about a mutual conclusion while each maintained a safe
distance.

"You make it all sound so simple." Xena told her.
"You're not bargaining with some shop keeper for cheap
parchment."

"No." Gabrielle agreed. "I'm bargaining with the woman I
love for a better life for us both."

For the first time, Gabrielle braved approaching her love. She
reached out taking stronger hands in her own.

And then whispering, "I'm bargaining for my heart - our
hearts."

For a moment the warrior's face retained its stony reflection,
giving away nothing of the battle that transpired within her.
Gabrielle watched her rise and approach Arnise - and pass by her
without acknowledgement. Her heart dropped as suntanned fingers
stretched out to the door handle. But instead of opening the entrance
and escaping as she had done the last time they were all gathered
together, Xena lifted her hand a little higher and fastened the
latch.

She turned back to face Gabrielle, eyes glistening as she
surrendered to her most primal self. Never to far from the surface,
it surged through her like liquid. Her voice cracked, hesitant and
awkward to start as though years had passed since she'd spoken.

"All right."

Standing only a breath away, Arnise saw the transformation take
place and knew if she let herself she would feel fear in it's wake.
It was too late for that now she realized. She nodded at the other
woman's inquiring glance and stepped closer.

Xena leaned down and kissed her, testing the prostitute's
interest. Then she looked up, over Arnise's shoulder, studying the
mesmerized features of the bard.

"What do you want to see?" She asked her huskily.

Gabrielle sat back down on the pallet as she breathed her first
sigh of relief all evening. She gestured at the table feeling the
first wisp of arousal slither into her groin. To her credit, her
voice didn't falter.

"Whatever it was you were going to do when you got here."

Easily interpreting the request, Arnise pressed her lips to the
warriors once again. The kiss deepened and quickly became forceful.
That wasn't so unusual, in fact it was expected when servicing the
dark woman, only this time it was Arnise who was leading the fervor.
She could smell the scent of Xena’s arousal, could hear the labored
breathing. Her hands moved unrestricted, across the polished breast
plate and along the muscled contours of broad shoulders and back. She
arched closer desperate to engage her senses.

The warrior too, explored the woman in her arms. Parting silken
cloth and pushing it back over slighter shoulders to expose torte
nipples. Hands reached blindly to tug them to erection. The robe hung
to the girl now only by its sash and Xena worked to loosen it,
eventually letting it slide off and pool at their feet. Her lips
found and sucked along the girl's nape. Biting now to exert her
strength. A silent cry tore out as Arnise leaned back exposing more
of the tender flesh, willing the treatment to go on.

Without breaking contact, Xena slid one hand slowly down her own
front, over the coarse fabric of her own tunic and trousers. She
released the hooks holding the latter secure without effort,
directing a hand through the opening and finding what she required.
She glanced up again, under hooded eyes this time, to offer Gabrielle
the opportunity to see what her battle lust looked like up close. As
close as she dared for now.

Returning her attention to the woman in her arms she commanded
softly.

"Over the table."

Arnise turned away, freeing herself from the embrace and
positioning herself across the cleared surface. She tried to settle
herself anticipating what was to come. A slight tap from behind told
her she needed to better her angle for their purposes. Shifting her
weight, she pressed one leg firm against the table leg, bringing the
other up under her. The warrior stepped up close, placing both hands
on the inside of the prostitute's thighs spreading them apart.
Moisture glistened as her reward. Fingers grazed the silken folds
spreading the warmth.

Now there would be no fantasy, no charade of what or who she may
or may not desire. Tonight that reverie would become as real to her
as the scares she carried upon her skin, as the memories of a darker
self held close to a ravished heart.

Placing the tip of her phallus at the girl's opening she uttered a
single word of instruction.

"Move."

Arnise obeyed, pushing back onto the rigid length, undulating
against it until it's mass had filled her. Larger hands griped and
held her in place. With her chin pressed against the table top, her
loins full of the warrior's invasion, she found a familiar crack in
the paint work to study.

If Xena was feeling inhibited by the bard's presence, it didn't
show. She rode the torrent of her needs to the fullest, making Arnise
work for what she would gain and establishing as she always did, that
the whore was purely the vessel used to purge her longings - not the
cause. All the while Arnise could see Gabrielle's eyes fixed just
above her own prostrate body, watching the vista of her companion's
desire.

The object inserted deeply continued to drive her forward. An
agonizingly slow and deliberate torture evolved as time and again it
forced her closer to the edge of pleasure but never quite allowed her
to rise above a low burn. The pumping went on as did the constant
flickers of an unlightable flame in her core. Her skin dragged back
and forth against the table, grabbing and letting go with the sweat
gathering. Above her the warrior's breathing was going wild. She
lowered her head, dropping her gaze to the wooden surface needing to
wait only seconds before a soft cry ushered without guard from behind
her.

Arnise didn't need to be told it was over, or that Xena would no
longer want a reminder of the event now she'd finished. She waited
long enough for the warrior to compose herself, feeling the phallus
being pulled free and being secured out of sight before she stood up
without word, righting her own clothing.

"Now what?" Xena asked directing her question to her
companion sitting quietly across the room.

"Now me." Gabrielle told her softly. And before the
warrior could protest, she leaned back on the collection of cushions
adorning the pallet, positioning herself provocatively. Nervously she
arranged her own garments that had ridden up in the process. She
didn't dare look at where Xena stood, simply allowing herself to
succumb to the sensations of the warm quilt and textured pillows. She
listened to the sounds of movement. She felt her approach, heard the
hushed timber of a voice like satin to her.

"How?" was the only word uttered.

Without hesitation, she answered. "However you like." And
then, "Just be with me."

Xena crawled onto the bed, moving with the poise and predatory
ease of a she wolf surveying it's prey. Her hair shone like silk in
the candle light and draped loosely about her face. Her eyes appeared
to have darkened to an even deeper blue. Mysterious and sensual, they
possessed Gabrielle in their hold as she crouched over her on hands
and knees.

She seemed to hover there, capturing equally poignant shades of
emerald before lowering herself and sliding her tongue across the
bards lips, caressing them softly with calculated desire, then
drawing back and enjoying the sight of flushed cheeks and a mouth
left open as if waiting for further nourishment. Both women's desire
was acute.

She remained deliberate in her movements, precise and opportune as
her right hand drew up and was placed on Gabrielle's leg, just below
the hem of her skirt. Slowly she slid along the soft skin of the
bard's thigh, pushing under the material to run up over her hip and
across her stomach.

The warrior's actions were intoxicating, making Gabrielle's head
feel light, while her body remained heavy and uncoordinated. She felt
her breathing quicken, as trickles of pleasure stirred through her
belly, and slivered like Greek fire down to the juncture between her
legs. Xena leaned down, kissing the blonde woman's full mouth while
keeping her own body suspended, allowing her right hand to persist
with its erotic exploration. Practiced fingers traced around a nipple
which rose immediately under its touch. The hand then trailed across,
massaging the still hidden matching bud, manipulating it to the same
firmness through the now all to restrictive fabric. Gabrielle gasped
into the warrior's mouth, accepting a probing tongue as it pushed
past parted teeth.

Knowing hands made their way lower. Gabrielle's heart pounded
unattended, aware that beneath the exquisite costume her lover wore,
the phallic object she had just used on Arnise was nestled. Through
her undeniable excitement she pressed down on the fear of receiving
the devise for the first time, recalling how the whore had strained
from its mass.

Anticipating her lover's thoughts Xena continued to stroke and
ignite various parts around the bard's lower abdomen, she averted her
eyes briefly from their task.

"The first time; I want it to be just me." She breathed.

A pleasant shiver washed across Gabrielle's skin at the intimate
vow as long digits continued to dance about her, pooling the essence
flowing from her and circling over her bud. Her hips rose in time
with the movements and Xena's fingertips slid through a fine patch of
hair.

Arching her back, Gabrielle brought her knees up enough to allow
both to fall open to the warrior. Xena raised her eyes but not her
head, ostensibly pleased the bard appeared to have received some
prior tutoring. Then oddly, she felt the slight depression of the
mattress below her as Arnise joined them on the bed. Coming to sit at
her counterpart's side about her upper torso. Before she could
register what was happening, warrior and whore had repositioned her
languid form so that she was sitting at the head of the bed, her own
legs spread so Gabrielle rested cushioned in her lap.

Movement at Gabrielle's belly slowed, as Xena found it
increasingly difficult to concentrate at the first sight of the
younger woman's body being played so sweetly, then finding new
purpose, intensifying their strokes.

As the fingers danced about her, the bards feelings - a mix of
delight and fear - intensified and helplessly, she groped for
something to hang onto. Arnise reached down, capturing the smaller
floundering limbs in her own. Allowing the gentle imprisonment to
give full concentration to the sensation between the bard's legs. The
warrior rose up a little higher taking time to completely draw the
fold around skirt away from Gabrielle's waist line. Next came the
softer fabric that held her britches as she guided them down and off,
leaving the bard naked accept for the briefest portion of attire left
around her breasts.

Xena's eyes finally settled directly on her own, dark and
monovalent, yet somehow safe and equally unsure of what was about to
happen. But the brief glint of uncertainty passed over quickly and
the steel set jaw of the warrior princess in totally intoxicated
arousal bore back.

"Are you frightened, Gabrielle?" she asked already aware of
the answer.

"A little." the bard managed.

A gentle eyebrow arched. "Do you want me to stop?"

Gabrielle shook her head. For all the racing thoughts, the
expected pain involved in what Xena was about to do, she could not
let what she so desperately craved - what she knew they both craved -
end here. There was too much at stake.

"Do you offer yourself freely, Gabrielle?" She husked in a
tone so much deeper than was usual.

She watched her beloved's head dip slightly in acknowledgement,
and the pain enveloped her, blinding her only to the fierce invasion
occurring in her sex. Three fingers entered and pressed forcibly
through the thin barrier to her center. A multitude of sensations
encapsulated her being - a sense of indisputable assault,
immobilizing and imprisoning her.

Then the shock subsided, and she sensed her body rise and fall,
her voice speak without her consciously forming the words. All the
while Arnise continued to stroke the lines forming along her
forehead, mopped the perspiration from her brow and whispered for her
to allow the sweet torture to claim her. Deceptively powerful muscles
clenched around the invading digits sucking them until they were
joined by another. She drew her legs up about her breasts as she
accepted it - welcomed all that was being bestowed upon her.

Arnise shifted slightly, tucking her own hands under the bard's
bent knees holding her body splayed. Gabrielle relaxed against the
restraint. Her head thrust back as far as it could go and more
guttural words, some she hadn't been aware she knew, spilled out
mixing with her liquid desire.

"I claim you as my own, Gabrielle."

In that moment, as Xena took all that was hers to give. As the
sudden thrust accompanied by a tearing pain shot through her, it was
obvious she was never ever going to belong to another.

***<>***

Gabrielle rolled over luxuriously in a state of semi
consciousness, bringing an unsuspecting face directly into a stream
of sunlight beaming through a gap in the tiny room's curtains.
Grudgingly she opened her eyes, stretching muscles gingerly to take
in her surroundings and squinting a little against the full force of
day break washing across her upper body.

Beside her, Xena's sleeping form was taking up a sizable portion
of the bed space. Raven hair fell haphazardly around her face and
shoulders, licking its way about one exposed nipple while completely
blanketing the other. Pouting lips continued to make gentle murmuring
noises.

Discarding a colorful bedspread no longer needed, the bard lay
back admiring their mutual nakedness. It had been a night dominated
with forceful yearnings, mixed in with the most tender of touches. A
shared urgency that could not be quenched though they had sought to
gratify it long after leaving Arnise's workroom. She vaguely
remembered Xena using her last ounce of energy to pull the covers up
over them just before dawn.

She lay watching the warrior continue to slumber, her fingers
playing idly in the dark beauty's hair for another half mark before
she finally stirred.

Xena blinked sleepily at the bard.

"You do that often when I'm sleeping?" She asked by way of
a greeting.

None of the previous night's activities or revelations had been
lost on the older woman and she was now, in the light of day, unable
to read the expression on her young lover's face, hoping it all
hadn't been some huge mistake. Fortunately Gabrielle sensed the
apprehension and decided that it was up to her to show that those
things that had changed between them were only for the better. Their
relationship had not been damaged from what had occurred, only
strengthened and made clearer than either believed possible.

Gabrielle drew herself closer to her lover, nuzzling amongst the
coverings and flesh till she had fully enmeshed herself against the
warrior's chest. Smaller more delicate hands reached out and laced
themselves around the proud shoulders and neck as she kissed her way
from breasts to lips, ignoring the slightest hesitation before the
passionate display was fully returned.

"By the Gods, you can kiss," Xena muttered, sending little
shivers along the bard's neckline.

"You would have known that much earlier if you'd been a bit
more adventurous." Gabrielle told her capturing the straying lips
and kissing her again. Hands continued to roam, molding and plying
tanned flesh.